Battle damaged M35 - Normandy?

[tbk0000]

Hi, I recently obtained this M35 shell from a seller in northern France - he claimed it had been ground dug in the Normandy area. It is a size 64 but I can't find the makers mark and the lot number is hard to read. While much of the brown appears to be rust there is a clearly discernable dark (green?) base coat and splashes of darker green paint. Apologies for the images - they were taken in shade but it was a very bright day - I may have to take them again on a better day. Comments welcome, thanks Terry

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

It looks better than ground dug to me unless it was dug up a long time ago!I would say that it has just been poorly stored in a barn or such like.As for the paint work i cannot tell but it sure looks to have had a compression/blast fracture in it's time.At the right price it's a nice shell.

[allan]

Have to agree, ground dug usually are covered with pitting, this appears to have none. But good relic anyway.
Regards
Al

[tbk0000]

Thanks for your comments - it was a good price.
The sellers pictures, while small, show the colour much better. Terry

[James C]

just my opinion but i would say ground dug only by the fact i have a soviet helmet with the same cross cracks on the crown i think you will find this part of the helmet will be the most weakest part with very thin corroded metal i dont know what conditions preserve the surface the way this ones preserved just be carefull when handling this area of the shell

[Schwerpunkt]

Normandy , Ardennes and other famous spots are often quoted as find areas. Without evidence to support it most of the time it's often mentioned to spice up the item.

[lebus12]

Nobody can tell if it was found in Normandy, certainly not because since the 60's thousands of collectors go to the Eldorado.
I know a man who buy German helmets in Germany to sell them in Normandy! Normandy = more money. In France, when a piece have this "history", we don't take it.
In the north of France, near Beauvais, Amiens...many helmets were lost by German army, but Amiens is not a good name for a seller!

[lebus12]

We have aslo the Alsace battlefield. I found this helmet in a German fox hole near Colmar.

[Mark K]

A very nice relic Heer helmet lebus is it a SD or a DD .

Regards Mark K

[lebus12]

This is one SD, this helmet was one a place where German army was very "young", students coming from the Fribourg University( 2 months of training), White Russians etc...
They were on a hill and tried to kep it.